Follow the Ark

Imagine with me….

Imagine that you are a twelve year-old living in Israel during the time of the Judges.  You are part of the Levitical tribe.  As a matter of fact, your family has taken many trips to Shiloh, to celebrate the Feasts at the Tabernacle of Moses.

These family trips were always exciting. The priests would share the history of your small nation and re-tell the stories of the miracles that God had performed on behalf of His chosen people.

However, recently, very bad news had filled the land.

Eli, the high priest, his two sons, and thirty thousand fathers and brothers from Israel were killed in a battle with their vicious foes, the Philistines.  Even worse, the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines.  God had commissioned Moses to build this Ark over four hundred and fifty years previously, and it was the very representation of God on the earth, bearing witnessed to Israel’s special relationship with God.

Up until that very time the Ark had always been located behind the thick veil in Moses’ tabernacle that was set up in Shiloh. Only the high priest was allowed to approach the Ark and only once per year on the day of Atonement.

Now it was lost, maybe forever, to Israel’s fiercest enemies.

But wait…..good news

Then, what seemed like months later, news came that the Ark was being sent back to Israel because of the fierce judgments God released on each of the Philistine towns it was sent to.  The Ark was brought to the town of Beth Shemesh; but seventy Israelites were killed because they tried to look into the Ark of the Lord. The people cried out, “who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?”

Then, a very young man stepped up and took leadership of the Ark of God. His name was Samuel. Some said he was Israel’s prophet. Many remembered him as the young boy that served as a priest under Eli. Samuel told the people that the men of Kiriath-Jearim were to bring the Ark to the house of Abinadab, where his son Eleazar was consecrated to guard the Ark.

God with us

Now the Ark of God was brought to your own town. More than that, your father Abinadab gave approval for the Ark of God to rest in your home!

You see, it was always God’s plan to dwell among His people. He created the universe to have a people that would invite Him into their homes, into their conversations, into their very hearts. Eventually, Messiah would come and reconcile men to God through His own blood. 

The work of God into mankind’s heart would be a very slow and deliberate process taking thousands of years.  But in one generation a man would be raised up that was “the man after God’s own heart.”  King David would set the high spiritual standard for every king that would follow him.

It would be still another thousand years before the “Son of David” would arise on the scene.  Jesus Christ, the Messiah, tore the curtain forever so that anyone who believed in Him would have access to “the Ark of God,” God’s very presence. 

When we say yes to Jesus, we are saying yes to the Ark of God living within us. 

Therefore, if we find ourselves surrounded by Philistines, oppressed by our own government, during severe persecution or even economic collapse, it will not matter because we carry within our hearts the very door into the Most Holy Place.

Access to God’s presence can either be the most exciting possibility on earth or sound like another boring Sunday sermon. This access to God promises our provision, guidance, and protection. We are in a blood covenant with the living God. He will guide us through every step of these troubling times until the end of earth as we know it. 

There is much more to the story of Samuel and David; but we must look at what they were pointing to. They both loved God’s presence and exhibited their love with their desire for the Ark of God (in 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st Chronicles, the Ark of God is mentioned over 85 times, more than anywhere else in the Bible). 

So my question to you

Both Samuel and David had experienced God’s presence habitually. As a new covenant believer is that your experience? Are you drinking of the Living Water that Jesus promised in the gospel of John Chapter 4:10-11, 7:38? Because it was, is, and always has been God’s desire to dwell with people, satisfying them with His river of delights. 

Do not let another day go by without deliberately seeking God. It is in His Presence that we will find safety and strength.